Electronic devices provide a wide variety of services. Examples of such electronic devices include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, laptop computers, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and pagers. The set of services provided by an electronic device includes a set of operational modes and a set of applications for the electronic device. Examples of the operational modes include, but are not limited to, a ‘silent’ mode, a ‘loud’ mode, a ‘media’ mode, a ‘phone’ mode, an ‘airplane’ mode and a ‘vibration’ mode, among other operating modes. The services available in a particular operational mode may be different from those available in another operational mode. For example, the number of services available in the silent mode can be more or less than the number of services available in the loud mode. The set of applications include, but are not limited to, an email, the Internet, a text editor, and an audio/video playback. The electronic devices can be linked with each other through a wireless link in a communication network. Examples of a wireless link include, but are not limited to, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), a Personal Area Network (PAN) such as a Bluetooth® link, and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). With improvements in technology, electronic devices can also have one or more functional blocks that are physically separated. These physically separated functional blocks can communicate with each other through wireless links.
The number of services that can be supported by an electronic device is increasing continuously. As a result, it has become difficult for a user of an electronic device to make optimal use of all the services provided by the electronic device. The operational modes can be changed by the user according to the set of services desired by him/her. Generally, it is convenient for the user to have only a limited set of services provided by the electronic device when the electronic device is in a particular operational mode, according to the preferences of the user. To use the desired services, the user needs to manually change the operational mode of the electronic device. However, manually configuring the operational mode, to change the associated services whenever the mode needs to be changed, can be cumbersome for the user.
Currently, there are methods available that improve the user experience in managing the services provided by the electronic device. One of these methods involves sensing the position of the electronic device and modifying the services provided, based on its position. For example, when the user is in a meeting, he/she turns the electronic device in a downward position and the electronic device is configured in the silent mode. In another method, the electronic device is attached to an external case. When the device is attached to the case, a particular set of services are available, and when the device is not attached to the case a different set of services are available. For example, when the user is in a meeting, he/she removes the electronic device from the attached case and the electronic device gets configured into the silent mode.
However, these methods have one or more of the following limitations. These methods are limited to a single electronic device, or electronic devices coupled by wire, where all the services reside on a single electronic device or coupled to a second electronic device. Including all the services in the single electronic device makes it difficult for the user to configure the required set of services, based on the desired operational mode. When different sets of services are provided by the different physically separated functional blocks of an electronic device, the integration of the disparate services and their corresponding applications can make user interaction with the electronic device inefficient.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated, relative to other elements, to help in improving an understanding of various embodiments of the present invention.